First group of civilian contingent to replace Indian soldiers reaches Maldives
Maldives’ Defense Ministry on Monday said the first group of Indian nationals arrived in the country to replace Indian soldiers and take over helicopters provided by India for medical purposes.
“The civilian contingent operating the helicopter in place of the Indian troops currently deployed in Seenu Gan (Addu town) has reached Maldives this evening,” the ministry said in a statement.
Currently, around 80 Indian military personnel are in Maldives primarily to operate two Indian helicopters and one aircraft, which have carried out several medical evacuation and humanitarian missions.
Indian platforms have been providing humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of Maldives for the last few years.
Indian military personnel present at Gana International Airport have started the handover process to civilians in the early hours of Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Maldives Defense Ministry said the helicopter deployed at Laamu Gan Kadhadhoo air base will be returned to India for maintenance and a replacement helicopter is scheduled to arrive on board an Indian warship on Wednesday.
The Foreign Ministry of Maldives had said this after the high-level meeting between India and Maldives in Delhi on February 2. India will replace its military personnel operating three aviation platforms in Maldives Till 10th May.
“Both sides agreed that the Government of India will replace military personnel in one of the three aviation platforms by March 10, and the replacement of military personnel in the other two platforms will be completed by May 10,” the ministry said in a statement. Will take.”
Similarly, the Ministry of External Affairs had said in a statement that the two sides “agreed on a set of mutually practical solutions to enable the continued operation of Indian aviation platforms” to provide humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of Maldives. Are.
In January, the President of Maldives Mohammad Muizzu had called for the withdrawal of Indian military personnel From the country till 15 March.
When Muizzu, widely seen as a pro-China leader, won the presidential elections in November 2023, he had promised to remove Indian troops from the country.
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